


Grasp

by Party_City_Worms



Category: Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda) - Fandom, Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Blood and Gore, Concussions, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Misunderstandings, Scars
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-01-25 02:16:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 17,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21348607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Party_City_Worms/pseuds/Party_City_Worms
Summary: Warriors and Four had been sectioned off from the others by the increasing horde of enemies, sparked by what Wild called a 'blood moon'. The two were pressed back to back, trying not to be separated, that would only make things worse.But the real trouble began when Warriors was disarmed.___Originally a live write done on the Linked Universe discord server! Still a work in progress.
Comments: 28
Kudos: 125





	1. Chapter One

Dealing with a group of enemies with a whole army behind you was a hell of a lot easier than getting ambushed in a small group of 9.

Even worse when your group of 9 is split apart during the chaos.

Warriors and Four had been sectioned off from the others by the increasing horde of enemies, sparked by what Wild called a 'blood moon'. The two were pressed back to back, trying not to be seperated, that would only make things worse.

But the real trouble began when Warriors was disarmed. 

"Hold on! I have an idea!" Four shouted quickly, beginning to raise his sword, but it was clattered out of his hand by a blow from one of the angry beasts.

Thinking quick on his feet, Warriors made the decision to do what he could to save, at the very least, himself. He kicked an enemy off of him, and made a grab for Four's sword.

The sword was a little short for him, but he could manage. He sliced into the enemies, trying to take out one on at a time, half-baked strategies forming in his head as he fought for his life. 

Four was still unarmed, of course, but Warriors could still hear him shouting and crying out, the rage of battle in his ears making it difficult to understand. Once one enemy was down, he glanced quickly over his shoulder to make sure Four was doing alright. The answer was probably not, as a heavy blur slammed against Four's head. Warriors got ready to check on him despite the chaos, but thankfully, Four let out a cry of pain, still moving, still breathing, he would be fine. A blow to the head like that should have killed him, and if it hadn't, that meant something was protecting him.

Warriors repeated this in his head as he faced the enemies, there was no time to check on Four. He had to keep going.

But he couldn't help but glance over his shoulder again, just too late as Four began to cry out in terror, another heavy blow going to his head. 

It should have killed him, but it just momentarily dazed him, and so Warriors turned back to fight. The sword in his hands felt like it was getting weaker, probably from all the damage it was taking. Four began to sob.

Warriors didn't need to look this time, the sound of crushing bones was all he needed to know that Four had been hit again, and he still wasn't dead. Four let out a cry of desperation, Warriors tuned out his words. Four should have died three times already by now, but he was still strong enough to stand and make noise, he would be fine.

Warriors began to get aggravated at the sword in his hands. How did Four use it when it was so fragile? The grip and blade were practically crumbling in his hands each time he swung. The anger was a nice way to distract himself from the screams around him as well.

Finally having dealt with the final monster ganged up on him, Warriors turned to see Four, taking a deep inhale, as if accepting his fate, while a monster drew it's sword back, ready to impale him. 

He finally had his chance to defend Four, pumped full of adrenaline, Warriors swung his sword to save him.

He missed.

Warriors stumbled back as his- no,  **FOUR** 's sword, impaled Four through the chest. He tripped over something under his feet, his own sword, grabbing it to finish off the final monster before it could take advantage of this moment.

Warriors closed his eyes tightly, taking a deep breath to reassure himself that it would be fine, that Four would get up again, a lucky fourth resurrection from death, whatever had saved him before would save him again. He couldn't have killed him. He felt a flash of light hit his eyelids, and when he opened them, he stared. 

The sword through Four's chest had disappeared, and where it remained was a large, jagged patch of discolored skin, and several crack-like lines coming out from it.

Warriors stepped back, alarmed and unsure of what to do. Four's body lay limp and unmoving, eyes shut tight. 

But he wasn't dead.

His chest began to slowly move up and down, he was  _ breathing. _ After all that had happened, there was no way it was possible, but after seeing Four ignore death three times already, maybe it was. 

Warriors scanned the area, hoping to find one teammate in particular.

"Hyrule! Four needs you! NOW!"

___

Hyrule had checked over Four for the fifth time that night, looking for wounds.

Time came in to check at one point. He smiled at Hyrule reassuringly, jostling him by the shoulder. 

"Your doing a good job healing him up so fast, it looks like you've already got all his wounds sealed."

Hyrule smiled weakly and nodded. "Thanks, I'm trying my best."

But as soon as Time left, Hyrule collapsed his face into his hands, face turning into a defeated frown.

That was exactly the problem.

Four didn't  _ have _ any wounds.


	2. Chapter Two

Hyrule stayed awake that entire night, checking him over again and again, draining his own magic. 

Maybe Four was fine after all, maybe he hadn't actually taken any hits. (The blood soaking his entire body and the ground they found him said otherwise.) Maybe he had some sort of resurrection powers like Wild had had.

It wasn't a good explanation, but it was a little comforting. Not very. Just a bit.

Hyrule didn't take his eyes off of Four, watching for any irregularities.

And he was glad he didn't, because not very soon after, Four stopped breathing

Hyrule lurched upwards, grabbing at Four's chest, ready to give compressions, forcing Four's mouth open and-

Four took an inhale and his eyes shot open in alarm, making some sort of strangled yelp as air filled his lungs.

Hyrule jumped backwards as well, heart pounding in his chest, waiting to see what Four did next.

Four's eyes were wide in alarm, he didn't move his entire body, not even to flinch. His eyes traveled around, taking a few more breaths in and out. He didn't make a sound. 

And then he closed his eyes and stopped breathing again, and Hyrule quickly pried open Four's mouth to let him breath.

___

Hyrule wasn't sure how much longer he could do this.

It had been over a week, and Four had made no progress. 

And every day, he heard the same thing. 

"Is Four any better?"

Each time he forced a smile, telling them Yes! Of course! He's getting better and better!

He didn't want to tell them the truth, and he needed to reply quick so he could get back to Four before he choked to death. Every day, every night, trying to keep Four alive.

Until one day, the question was asked again.

And Hyrule snapped.

___

"So Hyrule, is Four finally good enough to-"

"No." 

"I-I'm sorry?"

"I said  _ no _ , no he isn't. And I don't know if he ever will be." Hyrule's soft voice was forceful and full of cracks, his hands shaking. He couldn't lie to them anymore.

"You said he was getting better!" Cried Warriors, standing up and slamming his fist down. "Time said you'd had his wounds sealed by the first day!"

Hyrule met Warriors gaze with shaky eyes. "There never  _ were _ any wounds to heal in the first place!"

"That's impossible! I saw him- I heard him getting hurt! You saw the blood! How could he not have anything-"

Hyrule let out a scream of frustration. "I don't  ** _KNOW!_ ** I don't have any medical knowledge! I just have a healing spell! He can't move, he can't speak, I have to force him to drink water and broth because he chokes on anything else! He even chokes on that! And!" He stopped himself, raising his hands up in defeat. "I need to check on him. He might have stopped breathing again."

He couldn't let Four die.

___

Legend stared after Hyrule, his heart dropping. Warriors was beginning to seeth with rage at Hyrule's reveal, grabbing twigs and branches off the ground, snapping them in anger. Everyone began to murmur, but no one stood up to follow Hyrule.

So Legend did

He made his way over to the makeshift 'tent' where Hyrule and Four were staying, taking a deep breath as he took in Four for the first time since the incident.

He looked skinnier, frailer, eerily still except for his eyes which were curiously gazing around, seeming intrigued by the appearance of Legend, but that was all that gaze away emotion.

Hyrule had broken down sobbing on the ground, digging his hands into the dead grass beneath him. Not sure how to act in this situation, or how to make himself known, Legend sat down next to Hyrule.

"Uh... Need some help?"

___

God, if this was what Hyrule had had to put up with for the past week and a half alone, no wonder he was so stressed. 

Quite literally forcing Four's mouth open and tipping his head back to get him to drink, making sure that he didn't choke on it like a fool. You couldn't even tell when he needed food or water because he just... did nothing. Like, absolutely fucking nothing, except stare at whatever was nearby.

They managed to get him to breath on his own, finally, though they still had to be on alert to make sure it didn't happened again.

Now that they could trust him not to suffocate every five seconds, it was time to test out the limits of how much Four could move still.

"Let's see if he'll follow my finger." Legend said, staring down at Four, who wasn't reacting to his words.

"Why?" Hyrule questioned. "Shouldn't we just, try to prop him up? Move his arms?" 

Legend shot a glare at him. "No. We get his attention and see if he follows it with his head." To demonstrate, Legend used his pointer to wave infront of Hyrule's face, snorting at the look of suprise.

"Alright. Let's test it."

Legend slowly got Four's eyes to follow his finger, moving it gradually until the small hero had to turn his head.

Four jolted in suprise at the movement, letting out a squeal, starting to wiggle wildly around with no coordination.

"You've got to be shitting me. He's been able to move this whole time?"

"I don't think he knew that either."

If anything, showing Four how to move was a terrible idea. Instead of laying still when they tried to feed him, he just struggled. 

But progress was progress, and progress meant healing. 

It wasn't as though Four could walk, so they didn't really have to worry about him wandering off. 

___

Sky hummed to himself, polishing the master sword, when the sound of rustling distracted him.

"Four?" Sky asked, suppressing a small laugh as the injured hero wriggled like a worm on the ground in his direction. "Uh... I... Don't think you're supposed to be out here. Let me take you back to Hyrule and Legend."

Sky stood up, gently placing the master sword against a tree stump, and knelt to pick up Four.  _ Be gentle, _ he reminded himself,  _ Hyrule says he has a head wound. _

Upon being lifted off the ground, Four went entirely limp in his arms.

Sky almost dropped him in terror, instead pulling him closer.  _ He's dead! _ , his inner voice screamed, watching the ragdoll way Four moved in his arms. His heart pounded violently for a few moments, before calming down as he saw Four blink at him.

"O-oh, thank Hylia... I..." Sky whispered, relief flooding his chest. With how much Hyrule and Legend had stressed being gentle, Sky feared he had killed him, which was probably irrational, but still.

Supporting Four's head, Sky walked him back to the tent. 

"Oh, you found him." The supressed panic in Legend's voice was obvious. "Put him back down."

Sky hesitated, staring at how content Four looked in his arms.

"Well?" Legend demanded.

"He doesn't want to be put down."

For a couple of days, Four remained silent, unresponsive to almost any word. 

One day, he finally spoke.

_ __ _

"Four?"

Everyone jolted in suprise at the voice, and looked at the stiff-moving boy. 

"Four?" He asked, his voice concerned.

"Four can talk still!" Sky exclaims in joy, and he almost tears up in relief.

"Four?" He asks again, a bit of desperation in his voice.

"Thank god he's finally responding, I was worried that the Four we know and love wasn't coming back."

"F-four?" He asked again, still desperate, almost like he was pleading.

"It's okay buddy, don't overwork yourself, lay back down and we'll bring you something to eat."

Four didn't seem to understand, his face twisted into fear and sadness, tears threatening to pour from his eyes. 

"Four...?"


	3. Chapter Three

Warriors stared down at his hands. God, why was he so useless? Four had been attacked brutally, hitten in the head enough times to die over and over. And he just stood there, until he fucking stabbed him. And now Four was a shell of what he once was.

Four was starting to crawl around, starting to say some words. And Warriors didn't want to watch. This was his fault. He didn't want to look at him, he didn't want to even be near him.

But for some twisted reason, in all his delirium, Four wanted to be near him. He would wiggle/crawl over, and make an attempt to hoist himself up onto Warriors. Didn't have the upper body strength or coordination to do it, but he wouldn't leave him alone either way. He got tired of getting up and moving somewhere else, working around camp in circles. When he yelled at Four, it only made him want to come closer. 

Wild had it lucky, Warriors thought, watching how Four seemed to flinch and hide whenever he came around, sometimes even scream with his weak voice. They teased him about it, making up reasons why Four suddenly didn't want to be around him anymore, but Warriors saw the genuine hurt in Wild's eyes everytime he cowered in terror.

Warriors felt someone nudge his shoulder.

"Hey. You alright?" Time asked, giving him a warm smile. 

"Yeah. I just.... Ugh... I feel like this is my fault."

"...It's because you stabbed him, isn't it." Time said. Four glanced back towards them for a moment, alert for once.

"What else?" Warriors groaned, looking away. "I turned him into a mess when I stabbed him with his stupid sword."

Four made a determined attempt to crawl into Warriors arms from where he was, looking up at him.

"Oh, so now he decides to listen to words, and not when it's anything important." Warriors said, almost a snarl.

"Hold on," Time's voice grew curious. "Maybe we've found something. Hey, Four." Four looked a little hopeful, glancing around, but quickly deflated. "Sword."

Four's eyes lit up.

"Well, that's something he'll respond to."

"Hyrule!" Time called, and in almost an instant Hyrule had dropped what he was doing and was at their side.

"Did something happen? Did Four bang his head? Is he-"

"He's fine. We figured out he'll respond to you best if you call 'Sword'." 

"...But we can't call him that, his name is Four. Or, Link." 

Four tilted his head.

"Link."

Four's face twisted up in distaste.

"He doesn't like that. He still reacts when you say Four, look! Four!"

Sure enough, Four let out a desperate whine, repeating it back. "Four?"

"See?"

"Call him Sword."

"....Sword."

Four straightened his back, looking ready and alert. But he still titled his head, as if unsure of what to do.

Hyrule sighed. "Well... I guess Sword will work for now, at least until he gets his memory back."

___

Wild's attempts to bond with Four were fruitless, though his teachings were not. He thought it would be a fun way to reconnect with Four, teaching him how to climb a tree.

Getting jabbed in the stomach with his arm and having his weapons stolen to be put up in the trees was not a fun way to reconnect with Four.

Hyrule and Legend weren't happy about it either. Twi was pissed he had to be the one to climb up there and get Four back down before he fell out and hurt himself ('You live a treehouse! You're best at it!'). Four was compliant enough at first. Four kicked and screamed in refusal of Twilight's efforts to get the weapons, not strong enough to hurt Twilight, but strong enough that he might get hurt himself if he managed to get cut on one.

Finally, having gotten all of the weapons safely back in Wild's slate, Twi handed the crying Four to Sky. "Don't let him near Wild again."

Wild's face fell at the statement.

___

But Wild wasn't going to stop there.

Four didn't really ever show much intrest in cooking before and, well, to be honest, plain out refused to eat anything Wild made for him now. So, obviously, teaching his uncoordinated self would be a good way to look better.

"This, is cooking oil- Hey! Give that back!" Wild shouted, mouth dropping as Four snagged the bottle out of his hands. Wild tried to get up to chase him, but Twi stopped him with his foot. 

"If he doesn't want to be near you, then don't force him to be." Twi warned, his voice serious.

Sky examined the master sword, having finished a little bit of polishing and sharpening, running it over gently with a cloth to clean off any residue. Even if she was dormant, he owed it to her to keep her in top condition.

Hearing some commotion from the cooking area, Sky looked up to see a flabbergasted Wild and a concerned Twi watch Four uncork and dump an entire bottle of oil over his head. He couldn't help but snort, it was funny to watch.

Four then made direct eye contact with Sky, clumsily advancing towards him in a stumble-crawl, and looking deep into his eyes with an excited, expectant look.

Sky laughed uneasily. "I... I'm not sure what you want from me, friend."

Four's face held it's excited look for a few more seconds, before his face fell and he let out a little whimper, trying to duck his head under Sky's arms. 

"Do you want me to hold you some more?" He asked gently, knowing Four wouldn't understand. Four pushed his way into Sky's arms. "I can't polish you buddy, you aren't a..." He paused for a moment, it felt like the world froze. "....Sword."

Four looked up eagerly, as if to say 'Yes! That's me!', and Sky shifted uneasily. "....Let's get you cleaned off." 

He stared at Four for a few more moments.

_ Did he actually think he was a sword? _

  
  



	4. Chapter Four

Sword wasn't sure what was wrong with him. Where was Four? They never left him alone this long, even if it was time for repairs. A lot of them were scary, like the strange one and his friend, or the scary one and his friend. 

Sometimes he worried that the Fours weren't gonna come back for him, but that was ridiculous. They needed him! He needed them. He had to be there to protect them! But these people, Sword recognized some of their voices as friends of Four, were just leaving him on the ground and refusing to polish him. The soft one was going to polish him, but then he left.

He huffed.

He could move now, maybe they expected him to do it himself.

And do it himself he would!

Clumsily grabbing the familar-feeling stone, Sword got to work at polishing his arms. (They were called arms, right?) He didn't get why, but the harder he scrubbed, the rustier he got. Weird, liquidy rust. That wasn't good! He pushed the stone back and forth even harder, he had to get rid of it! It felt a little weird, but nothing he wasn't used to. Four would be proud of him when they came back, he knew Green loved being a blacksmith. They wouldn't even have to take him to the Picori anymore to get polished!... He hoped they would anyways though, being reforged felt nice. He began to giggle when he remembered that they almost always have a tiny fire here, maybe that would be warm! 

But for now, he continued to work on sharpening up.

___  
Sky had gathered the others up on the other side of camp from where he left Four. He was still in view, just barely, so they could check on him and hear him if he got hurt. He felt unsure of himself, the idea that Four thought he was a sword was ridiculous sounding, but it made sense. WHY he thought he was a sword was a different matter, the only person in their group who had experience dealing with amnesia like this was Twi, and even he admitted to not knowing why Four was acting so strange.

"Well? What's so important?" Legend asked snappily.

"I think Four thinks... that he's.... a sword." 

Everyone was silent for a second, and Sky waited for them to tell him he was being stupid, he really hoped they would. 

"That... makes a surprising amount of sense." Hyrule said, shifting on his feet. 

Wild's face went pale. "Does that mean he thinks I'm gonna kill him?"

"Yeah, probably." Twi said, and closed his eyes, making a disgruntled growling sound. "....Maybe he doesn't just think he's a sword."

"What do you mean?"

"...Maybe he IS the sword."

It was Legend's turn to growl. "That's fucking ridiculous! How would that even work?!"

Sky felt the urge to agree die down as he thought over Twi's words. They'd never found Four's sword after the battle, Warriors had made an angered comment about how it must have finally shattered from all the battling. Sword really only responded to battle words, or the name of Four, as if whining for him. He thought about Fi, and he thought about Ghirihim, remembering something about how great swords possessed great spirits. (Sword was a rather... lackluster great spirit, if that's what he was.) Four's words about how his sword was magic and had a secret power. Was this it?

No one had made a move to agree or argue with either one of them. 

Legend opened his mouth again. "Think about it, why would his sword have a soul inside it? That barely makes any sense." He hesitated and shot a look at Sky. "Don't say a word, that's a different case entirely."

Warriors was silent. He didn't know what happened to the sword after he- after he stabbed Four with it. But the possibility of the spirit of the sword he killed Four with now inhabiting him made him angry. Especially when 'Sword' had the nerve to keep crawling after him and whining at him when he yelled at him to go away, tried to force himself into his arms and stay there-

He stopped himself. 

He had been the last person to wield that sword.

Warriors felt everything reel, pieces starting to fit together that he wishes he could rip the sides off of and make useless. It made too much sense to ignore it, but by the Goddesses he tried to. 

He was the last person to hold the sword, his voice was nearer and closer, he would be familiar, if he was yelling, maybe the sword thought he was yelling for help-

Four had been yelling for help.

Warriors had denied him that help.

Then he stabbed him with a sentient sword that now responds to his yells.

What the fuck was wrong with him?

Everyone thought about the sides of the arguement, both making sense. A sword has no soul, but maybe Four's did. Why? They weren't sure.

Speaking of Four, Hyrule took a peek to check on him. He hadn't made much noise, hadn't come and begged to be held, and he looked like he had stayed in the same spot. 

Nothing bad had happened, thankfully.

Until he got closer, and saw with horror as Four scrubbed his arm raw with a stone, torn flesh and blood everywhere. Hyrule felt sick.

Hyrule wanted to pass out.


	5. Chapter Five

Sword wasn't sure what he was doing wrong yet again. The strange one had just fallen over upon seeing him, and his friend (He tried to remember what his name was, he knows he has one, but its hard to pick out certain sounds) had jumped forward to grab his arm away from sharpening himself.

"No!" Sword yelped, remembering the word. "No!" He tried to keep sharpening himself. If no one else was going to do it anyways, why were they so mad at him? Was it because the liquidy rust was getting everywhere? What was human rust called again? He struggled to find context.

Either way, they should have done something before if they wanted to do it themselves! Now they were just being mean.

Sword finally gave up struggling, Green would probably say something about needing to play nice. (He missed Green.)

The strange one's friend (he settled on calling him Legend. That was probably his name, either that or 'Hyrule', but that couldn't be right, because that was where he was from.) had started to use some more red (he missed Red.) liquid to help. Sword stared at his work. It didn't look sharp. It looked weird. It was all pink and soft and weird, but at the very center where it was deepest, it was hard. He didn't get why it didn't work. Why couldn't he be sharp? If he wasn't sharp, he was useless! You can't protect anyone when you're dull! He let out a whimper, and Legend just stared at him the way he always did. He wasn't sure what it meant, but it reminded him of how he imagined Blue. (He missed Blue.) 

Trying to think some more, he remembered another word. He felt smart, Vio would he happy. (He missed Vio.)

He stared up at Legend. 

"Where's Four?"

___  
Legend stared down at Four. Worms of pity gripped at his chest, constricting him. The suggestion that Four was actually a sword was stupid. But he agreed that Four at least thought he was a sword, and this was the first 'sentence' he'd spoken, even if it was a measly fragment.

"...You're right here." Legend said, continuing to disinfect the wound. How Four had put up with the pain of grating his skin off down to the bone without crying out it pain was beyond him, and he didn't even flinch when it was touched. They'd already considered 'nerve damage' on the list of injuries next to 'brain damage', but seeing the extent scared him.

"Where's Four?" Four asked again, pleading.

Legend pointed his finger directly at Four's face. "Right there."

Four looked offended and upset. "No! Where's Four?"

Getting tired of dealing with him, Legend checked around and picked up a mirror shield someone had left on the ground, showing Four his reflection.

___  
Sword got giddy with excitement, overwhelmed with joy as Legend showed him Four! It was them! They didn't leave him after all, and they looked so happy to see him too!

He bonked his head into theirs, ready to be reunited with them all, ready to feel their touch again and-

Ow! Why was it hard? Why was it cold? Sword began to whimper and cry, it had been a trick! Why would they show him Four and not let him be with them?! He began to sob harder, pushing the image of Four away from him because the image was crying too. At least now he knew Four missed him just as much, but when would they come back?

He didn't want to be here anymore.

___  
Okay, fuck, that wasn't the best idea Legend ever had, putting something shiny and metal right in front of a concussed person's face so they can bang their head into it.

Panicking, he dropped the shield, Four was sobbing profusely, no wonder because that must have hurt with the force he used to slam his face into it. Ugh, Hyrule was going to be pissed- probably not pissed, more like deeply disappointed with a little bit of anger, but he deserved it. 

He couldn't keep getting mad at Four, it wasn't like he was aware of what he was doing. It was easy to look at him and see the old Four, who was level-headed and competent, not whatever was left of him. He missed having Four around.

Legend took a deep breath and tried to remain calm. Four needed him right now. 

"Hey, uh... It's alright, Sword." Legend said, trying to get a hold of Four's face to check if anything was swollen or going to bruise. Four whimpered at his touch, but let him grab his face. "...Sorry. For snapping at you." He paused. "You don't know what I'm saying." He almost wanted to rip his own face off in annoyance. But he didn't. "You don't know what I'm saying, but that's okay. I've been harsh on you, but that's because you-" Stopping himself from whipping out an insult, he dug around in his bag for a moment and pulled something out. Four's headband. They'd had to take it off to replace it with bandages early on, and never bothered to give it back. If Four missed himself, maybe this would help.

"Just. Take this, okay? I can help you put it on."

___  
Sword didn't know what he was looking at, at first. It was green and cloth, like a loop. Legend was offering it to him, so it was probably meant to be eaten. But it didn't LOOK like food.

He gently reached his hands out to grab the cloth, his sniffling stopping a bit so he could get a better look. Something was familar about it, he moved it around in his hands, feeling the soft but worn fabric. It reminded him of Four.

Not sure what to do with it, he handed it back to Legend, who made some noises and then stood up. Was he leaving?

Instead, Sword felt the cloth stretch around his head, and oh! He knew what this was! It was Four's hair thing! He bubbled up with excitement, it felt nice on his head! 

...But why did Legend have it?  
___  
Legend finished adjusting the headband on Four, drawing his hands away and smiling weakly at him. "The pressure should be good for your head, too." 

Four looked up in awe, touching the headband like he had never felt it there before. But his face scrunched up with confusion and he began to stare at Legend, tilting his head.

"Four?" He asked, confused.

Legend shifted, why wouldn't he drop it? "Yeah buddy, that's your headband." He gave an awkward thumbs up. "....Four's headband."

"Where?"

"Where what? Where did the headband go? Where did I get the headband? On your head and from your head."

Four looked down in disappointment. Legend wanted to snort in amusement, why would he ask a question when he couldn't understand the answer? "Alright, 'Sword', once Hyrule's back he's gonna come check on your arm and do some proper magic. Pretty neat shit." He pat Four on the leg. "Just sit tight."


	6. Chapter Six

Sword had discovered something neat about his voice!

If he used it in a certain way, he sounded  _ just like the Fours! _ It was amazing! It would be like they were right there beside him still, instead of off doing... whatever they were doing, alone. The thought still scared him. They were NEVER separate from eachother for long, even if at first they hadn't known he was there. Sometimes they talked to him, and that was always fun, just hearing their voice. 

And now he could replicate it himself!

But what to pick? There were so many sounds to choose from, he remembered them all so clearly, especially the loud ones they'd made before they left him. Those sounded fun!

___

If Legend expected to be sitting there calmly and peacefully until Hyrule came back, he was dead wrong.

Four seemed pleased with himself, making happy humming noises as though checking out his pitch.

It was kind of cute, to be honest.

Until the screaming started.

Absolutely terrified, blood-curdling screams of pain and horror, in Four's exact voice, with shouts of random colors thrown in.

But it stopped as suddenly as it began, with Four letting out a happy giggle of excitement, even more pleased with himself than before, continuing his happy hums.

Again, Four began to make pained noises. It started with whispers of shock and horror, almost as though he was having a conversation with himself. Then a sudden cry of anger, cut off by his own scream of pain.

Silent sobbing, he almost swore he made out a strangled 'Goodbye', before a yelp of terror followed by more silence, then begs for it to be over soon. Then silence.

Then more giggling. 

Legend stared in numb shock. What was Four doing? What was happening to him?

___

Sword was very happy with the noises he made. They sound just like them! The pressure of the headband was so nice too, everything was wonderful. 

He opened his eyes and saw Legend, staring at him with the strangest look. Legend shifted away from him, and called out weird noises into the night, before forcibly shoving Sword to lay down.

Did he not like the sounds? If he was Four's friend too, surely he recognized them! He knew the scared friendly one would like the noises, he knew he was there when they were being made. That was the last time he'd been used too, maybe they weren't using him out of respect for Four?

Maybe he should make them again, he probably just caught Legend off gaurd. He opened his mouth to make more noise, but Legend slapped his hand over his mouth before he could speak. 

Sword's heart dropped. Why wouldn't he let him make noise? They'd been excited before when he made noise, encouraging it, responding to him, but now Legend wanted him to stop?

Could he not do anything right?

___

Legend struggled to keep Four down, it wasn't as though it was hard, just that he didn't want to use his full strength out of fear it would hurt him.

"Stay quiet, if you aren't in pain, don't scream like you're dying!" Legend whispered, hoping that no one had noticed him. A futile attempt, obvious, as Sky rushed in. 

"Sorry I couldn't come sooner! I was helping Wild and Time get Wolfie's paw out of a snare, what happened?!" 

"Nothing, don't worry." Legend hesitated. "I hope. Four just started... screaming."

Sky looked wary of that answer. "We were pretty far away when it started and I still heard him. They sounded..." He shuttered, his eyes shutting tight. 

"Yeah, I heard, it was right in my ear. He was laughing every time he took a break from it. Don't got a fucking clue why." Legend shrugged, hoping Sky would ignore his hand gripped over Four's mouth.

Sky didn't, because he's got eyes, like the asshole he is. 

"...Can he breath with your hand covering his mouth like that?"

Legend glanced and saw Four's face starting to turn purple. "No." He removed his hand and pointed threateningly at Four. "And don't you scream anymore."

___

Hyrule wrapped Twi's hand up with bandage. "So how did you get injured like this?"

Twi remained silent.

"Alright, have it your way. Do you know where Wind and Warriors went?"

Twi motioned towards the direction of the nearby lake with his head, flaring his nostrils, then motioned again with his hands. "That way."

"They've been gone for a while, think I should go check on them?"


	7. Chapter Seven

Wind stood in the knee-deep shallows of the lake, scooping up stones and skipping them across the surface. "Isn't it crazy how-" He paused to stare at Warriors. "What are you doing?"

Warriors sat up against a tree, writing something in his journal. "Making notes."

Now that peaked his curiosity. "On what?"

"Four's behavior, he's-"

"Nice. Hyrule would want to see that."

Warriors stared at him for a few moments before continuing. "I'm trying to write down things that could help explain what's going on, why he thinks he's a sword, and... If he really is one." Warriors motioned Wind over. "Dry off first, I'll let you take a look."

Wind trudged out of the water, careful not to step on any deep areas. He normally just let himself air dry when it was fresh water like this, so he took off his shirt and wiped down his legs before putting it back on.

"That's moreso just... transfering the water to another part of you, but I'm not sending you back alone to change so just... Sit down." Warriors sighed, a slight smile on his face as he pat the area to the left of him.

Wind sat down to the right of him instead, ignoring the branch and rocks. Warriors was unamused. "Well, let's take a look at it!" Wind stared down at the page, squinting his eyes. Wow, Warriors had messy handwriting. Or, wait, that was right, they had different alphabets. "I can't read this."

Warriors mumbled something under his breath, before pointing to a diagram filled with what were probably letters. "This right here is supposed to be Four."

Wind tilted his head, it looked more like a wobbly blob with scribbles all over it. "Is it?"

"Don't. Anyways, where the lines are the darkest is where I know for a fact he took aot of heavy damage during the battle, and the circled areas are where he's hurt himself since." Warriors pointed to a key chart next to it. "The lighter lines are mostly just shading, but if they're in a zig-zag pattern like this, that means it's a smaller injury that he's just picked up along the way."

Wind stared at the scribbles. "That's a lot of shit near his...arm?" He touched the paper.

"That's his head." 

"Oh."

"His arm is right-" Warriors shifted Wind's finger to the left. "Here. Do you see how it's circled heavily? That's because of what happened tonight."

"Technically it's already early enough to be morning so-"

"Last night then."

Wind paused. "Did you not get any sleep?"

Warriors stared at him, bags under his eyes. "No. But that's not important right now." He shifted Wind's finger again, until it was touching a drawing that actually looked like what it was supposed to be. 

"Is that a sword?"

"Yes, it's Four's sword."

"You forgot the bandage around the hilt."

"That also isn't important right now." He paused. "But thank you, I'll add it in a second. He called it the four sword, and I'm trying to see if drawing it will bring out any small details that could give us a hint."

"That won't work if you keep forgetting details."

"...I have a good memory."

"Then why did you forget the bandages?"

"I said I didn't think they weren't important."

"But you want to see if ANYTHING is imporant so-"

___

Hyrule wasn't sure what conversation he was walking into. Wind and Warriors were squabbling while sitting against a tree, the latter holding the former's finger down against his journal as he shifted where he sat.

"Are you two alright? Twi said you'd come down here a few hours ago."

They both looked up, and Wind took the opportunity to move where he was sitting. Warriors blinked, "Twi wasn't in camp when we came down here, how did he know?"

Hyrule shrugged. "Not sure, maybe he heard it from someone else. What are you arguing about?"

"I'm showing Wind-" "Warriors is a terrible artist."

Warriors looked offended. "That's not what this is about. Hyrule, come over here, I've been making a diagram of Four's injuries."

Hyrule nodded and sat to Warriors' left, thanking the fact that there was no debris to sit on. He stared down at the journal, it was full of scribbles and symbols. Should he be able to read this? A knot formed in his throat and he nodded.

"This is Four, the markings represent his injuries." Warriors pointed to a rough drawing of a human, which was covered in scribbles and lines. 

"I'd assume that the circles are recent injuries? And the dark lines are..." He hesitated. "Injuries he should have?" 

Warriors looked both pleased and impressed. "Correct, did you read the key first?" Hyrule remained silent. "Well, I suppose since you're the medic, you'd know. Are there any other injuries I'm missing?"

"Legend told me Four banged his head last night, so put another circle around his head." He didn't mention how it happened, it had been a mistake, so he wouldn't embarrass Legend for no reason. As Warriors added a circle to the diagram's head, Hyrule took in just how many lines were concentrated in that area. No wonder his concussion was so bad.

___

After spending more time with Hyrule and Wind to improve his diagrams, Warriors had added a good bit more to them. Nicks and bumps Four got, a rough estimate on how much weight he had lost since the incident. Even adding more detail to the hilt of the sword. Hyrule even provided some more information on Four's behavior, and how it's changed. 

The list of words Four could say were small, 'Four', 'No', and 'Where'. The list of what he would respond to was bigger, but still small. Mostly words having to do with combat or swords. The only outliers were 'Zelda', 'Link', 'Four', and a few colors.


	8. Chapter Eight

Twi looked over his hand, Hyrule had done a good job fixing it up. And a better job not asking too many questions. 

"Hey. Twilight."

Twi looked up at Legend's voice. "Do you need something?"

"Yeah. Can you watch over Four for me?"

"Of course, I'd take it that Sky is too busy?"

Legend coughed and broke eye contact. "No, but he's probably sick of having to be the designated watcher when me and Hyrule are busy." Coughing again, he looked back at Twi. "Plus, you like Four well enough. He might even be glad to see you."

Twilight had his doubts. But some time with Four outside of making sure Wild didn't scare him would be nice. "Of course."

Twi made his way over to where Four was playing in the grass, digging around and plucking the more sturdy weeds to pick apart with his hands. The bandage around his arm was stained with blood, but it wasn't fresh. He would have to tell Legend to replace it when he got back. Four had started to wear his headband again too, Twi was grateful because he'd looked wrong without it. 

Not wanting to catch the boy off guard, Twi made a huffing sound. Four didn't notice, so instead he gently used his foot to inch into Four's eye sight, until he looked up at him.

"Hey, Sword." Twi said gently. "Legend's having me watch you for a bit. Alright?"

Four tensed and shifted away.

"Don't worry, I'll give you some space. Just letting you know I'm here."

As Four went back to what he was doing, looking up at him every few seconds, Twi decided to distract himself. If he kept staring at Four, he wouldn't fully let his guard down.

Twi thought of Ilia, one of his close friends from Ordon village. Back during the course of his journey, she had lost her memory as well. She hadn't recognized him, didn't really trust him either until he helped her and Telma out. Thankfully, she had long since regained her memory, and they stayed friends ever since. She was who he left in charge of Epona, of course, she loved horses. In fact, without her love of horses, she wouldn't have regained her memory. 

Maybe there was some sort of object that could help Four spark his memory, too.

But as he lost himself in thought, he remembered his own words. 

If the sword was in Four's body, nothing would have any chance of restoring him to his former self.

___

Sword was uncomfortable. Legend had left him alone with the scary one's friend, and now he was just... watching him. Was he fun to watch? Was he going to attack him? 

They both seemed to be trying to ignore eachother, but Sword kept feeling him glance up at him. He didn't like this, it felt familar, like he was being hunted. Even the suspicious Legend was better than this.

Mustering up his courage, he decided to use some words. 

"Where?"

His watcher looked up and repeated it. "Where...?"

"Legend? Where's Legend?"

___

Twi hesitated. He wasn't sure if this was new from Four, or if he'd already been able to ask where people were before, but this was new to him. He hesitantly raised a hand to point in the direction Legend went, and after the initial flinch, Four raised his head to follow it, his eyes lighting up in delight.

That seemed to make Four happy enough, so Twi settled back down and began to hum a song, tapping his foot to the beat. He assumed that Four wouldn't ask again.

"Where?" Four asked, eagerly.

"Where...?" Twi led Four's question on, hoping he would catch on to specify again.

His eyes were stretched wide with anticipation. "Where's Four?"

Twi hesitated.  _ He really is the sword, isn't he? _ He had had his doubts, even if the theory was his own, but when Sky brought it up, it only confirmed his suspicions. He had hoped foolishly that it was just a bad cause of amensia, that soon enough Four would have his memory back. But 'Sword' didn't even seem to know that Four wasn't coming back either. 

Checking to see who else was still in camp, he called to Time. "I'm taking Four with me somewhere, I want to show him something!"

Time took a few moments before giving a thumbs up. "Don't lose him, bring him back soon!"

Twi nodded back, and extended a hand to Sword. "Here, come with me." When Sword just stared back, Twi picked him up and gave him a ride on his back, making sure to support him.

Sword seemed comfortable there, so Twi set onwards towards the last place Four had been himself.

___

They were going to see Four! Sword could barely contain his excitement. Finally someone understood what he wanted, even if it was one of the weirder ones. They even put him on their back, like Four would carry him when he wasn't being used. 

He imagined Four's face when they reunited, maybe even they would split for him! He began to mimic the sounds again, the ones he last heard them make. They were very high-energy sounds, it must have scared his watcher because he almost dropped him when he started. He couldn't contain his joy, bursting out in giggles. Where were they going? Was Four far away? Or were they close? Were they going to meet them in the middle?

Finally, they got to an open clearing full of destroyed trees, burnt grass, and rust-stained everything. What a dingy place, why would the Fours be there?

The watcher set him down in a patch of cleanish grass. Sword glanced around eagerly, this was it! This is what he had been waiting for!

...But he could wait some more, he supposed, the silence of the area becoming overwhelming. The watcher started to do something with his bag, and he started to feel uneasy. What was he going to do? Was he going to look for Four? Maybe they were in the grass! Sword began sifting through the grass, hoping to find them. They must be trying to suprise him!

...Right?

Time dragged on, and there was still no sign of Four. Sword let out a little whine. "Where's Four?" 

The watcher looked down at him, and pointed towards some of the larger rust stains.

Sword scrambled over to get to it, desperate at this point. The grass was weird and gross, patchy, dried.... Covered in... Sword tried to remember the word again. Humans don't rust, they... bleed.

He stared at his wrapped up arm, then back at the grass stains, then back at his arm.  _ This is blood, _ his brain supplied,  _ you were bleeding. You bleed when you are hurt. _

"Four?" He asked, pointing at the stains. Four was injured here...? 

The watcher stepped closer and knelt beside him, and nodded his head. "Four."

Sword took in all the blood. This much blood meant that Four had gotten really injured, in a lot of pain.

_ People scream when they are in pain, _ he remembered.

He thought back to the last time he was used as sword. He was being raised, ready to split, but then he got hit... But then he was picked up again, and it hurt when he was being used. Then all of Four's screaming. Then being plunged into something, it felt different than a monster. Then it all went dark, and when he woke up, he had eyes.

And he could bleed.

And Four was no where to be seen.

And now he was being told that this here, this blood scattered across the ground, was Four.

He let out a whimper, wracking his brain to remember the meaning of the sounds the Fours made.

_ Cries for help, strangled goodbyes, and screams of pain. _

And he could move.

And he could bleed.

He only ever had one body before.

_ And he was in it. _

He almost wished that they had just abandoned him after all.

Maybe if they had, he wouldn't have killed them and stolen their body.

_ __ _

Twi felt his heart break as he watched Sword begin to frantically pat the ground, pat himself, begin once again wailing and screaming, only this time instead of it being enthusiastic, it was weak and interspersed with sputtering and sobbing that hadn't been part of it before.

_ He understands now. _ Twi thought, taking a deep breath. "Hey... Sword. Come on, we have to get back to camp."

Sword suddenly went limp, like he would when Sky picked him up. 

But it wasn't an act of trust.

It was out of grief.

If he would have been able to carry Sword back as Wolfie, he would have. Instead, he took off his wolf pelt and wrapped Sword in it to comfort him, picking him up. "Let's get you back. Everyone's going to be worried about you, we've been gone for a while now."

Sword didn't respond aside from a little whimper as tears rolled down his bright red face.

Twi gently leaned his head against Sword. "I miss him too."

As Twi held Sword close, carrying him back to camp, he thought about something strange he observed in the sunlight.

Sword hadn't cast a shadow.

In the shade of the trees, it was hard to tell. This was the first time that Four- no,  _ Sword _ had been under direct sunlight, and it made Twi uneasy. Everyone should have a shadow.

Thinking back to times Twi had sworn he saw Four's shadow make some obscene gesture, only to realize he was probably just seeing things from lack of sleep, it felt like something was missing.

Twi shook his head to clear his thoughts, he had more important matters at hand. It was probably just a trick of the light.


	9. Chapter Nine

Time paced back and forth. Twi had taken Four and left almost two hours ago, and hadn't come back since. Normally, he would trust those two together to survive for far longer, but with the condition Four was in.... 

Legend had been pissed when he came back to hear the news. ('I trust him with something for FIVE MINUTES and he's fucked it up!'. Time pointed out that it was more like thirty minutes, to which Legend snarled that he lost track of time, just like Time lost track of them.) He argued that Four should remain in camp at all times, they've been unsuccessful with teaching him how to deal with danger, and he was a threat to himself. Hyrule, Wind, and Warriors came back soon after, also starting to stress. Sky, who had been teaching Wild better weapons maintenance, had run off to search for them. Wild tried to come with him but was rejected, so he had started cooking to take his mind off of things.

Time felt guilt prick at his chest. Confining Four to camp for over a month when he was obviously very curious about the world around him had felt wrong, and he trusted Twi to keep him safe. He should have gone with them, sending someone alone was never a good idea.

As the waiting grew more and more unbearable, Sky came into view, looking in a rush despite his slow pace, Twi coming after him, holding something pressed against him. Time felt relief flood his chest, but it wasn't safe yet. He rushed to them. "Is everyone alright? Where's Four?"

Sky looked desperately at Twi, who made a shushing motion, then back at Time. "...He's in Twi's arms. And... I think Twi was right."

"About what?" Time pushed. Sky looked uncomfortable.

"That the sword is inside of Four.... that... That Four has been replaced by the soul of the sword."

___

Warriors wanted to agree.

He knew that Sky was right in saying that.

But he didn't want him to be.

"No. That can't be right." Warriors said, his voice faltering. It wasn't helping his case.

"Twi took him to... to where Four died."

"He's not  _ dead _ ! Stop acting like he is!" Warriors yelled, feeling Wind elbow him in the gut.  _ Why isn't he agreeing with me? _ "Why can't Twi tell us this himself?"

"He doesn't want to disturb Sword by moving too much." Sky said quietly, obviously taking a lot of effort to keep his voice calm.

"Bullshit! And don't call him that! He's delirious, he lost his memory, he's hallucinating things!" He felt Wind elbow him harder.

"Warriors, please, Sword is grieving-"

Warriors tuned out the rest of Sky's words. He didn't want to listen anymore.

___

Sword hated this. He wanted Four back. He  _ killed _ them. What sort of sword was he? A bad one, a very bad one. A terrible, no good sword who killed Fours. 

Having a body sucked. Being a sword was better. It was familiar. It was comfortable. He could keep them safe. He didn't have to breath or move or eat or talk..... he wanted that back. Maybe sometimes he'd wished to be in there with the Fours. But that was at the start, before he knew his purpose, before they knew where he was. Once they discovered him, they started to try and talk to him, he couldn't respond and after a while he realized he only needed to look out for certain words, so he stopped trying to figure out what they meant. But it was still nice, it was comforting to be held and spoken to like he was a better piece of them. Even if Blue was too rough sometimes, he always made sure he was okay afterwards. 

He didn't miss being human anymore.

He missed being a sword.

___

Wind stared back and forth from Sky to Warriors. Why was Warriors being such a dick about this? It wasn't like him. 

Sky continued to speak. "...And so, since Sword reacted that way... It confirms the suspicion that he's probably a seperate entity from Four. When Warriors said the sword wasn't there anymore, I thought he might have just made that up in his grief, because there was nothing there. But maybe when was shattering, it released it's spirit into Four's corpse."

Time looked understanding. "Like a posession?"

Sky nodded. 

Hyrule raised a hand. "Corpses rot."

"...Ah...Yes."

They all went silent, everyone staring at Hyrule, who looked embaressed. "I'm just saying."

Time looked bothered. "Well, I don't... well... Has he been rotting?"

Hyrule shifted. "No? And his pulse is still going, last time I checked. And he still has to breath."

Everyone untensed a bit. 

"So what I'm saying is, unless something is faking those, he isn't a corpse."

Twi leaned Sword away from him, checking to see how he was doing. He still felt Sword's breaths, but the boy wasn't moving or responding to anything. Tears still rolled down his cheek, but that was all. 

Nothing else.

"...We should let him get some rest. Hyrule, you should rewrap his arm, disinfect it again. He needs some comfort."


	10. Chapter Ten

Sword let them do whatever they wanted with him. The strange one was dressing the wound on his arm again. Why did he bother with him? Sword wasn't Four.  The strange one could never replace Four. He wouldn't let him.

He'd begun to remember more words too. He wished he didn't. He didn't need them.  Would they tell him to stop feeling sorry for himself? Would they do this if he had died instead?

Sword didn't feel like moving. Moving had been fun before. But moving meant using Four's body.  It was his body too. No it wasn't. It shouldn't be. 

The strange one tried to get him to eat. He didn't want to. 

Legend tried to get him to eat. He still didn't want to.

They made him anyways.

Why?

___

Sword was sad. Like, really sad, Wind thought to himself. Since it all started, he hadn't spent much time with him. Sword seemed indifferent about him when he was nearby, and would always choose Warriors over him. 

Even if Sword wasn't Four like they thought, Wind still wanted him to be happy. It had been a few nights since Twi and Sky came back with a motionless, but still living Sword, and Sword hadn't made a sound or moved since. It had been cute watching him learn to walk, seeing him cuddle against Sky or try to cuddle into Warriors. He was halfway tempted to teach Sword to swear, but Warriors shot him a glare every time he brought up the brilliant idea. 

Wind decided that this day was as good of any to try and bond with Sword, maybe he could cheer him up while he was at it.

"Hey Sword!"

No reaction.

"What's up Sword!"

Still nothing.

"It's me, Wind!"

...

"....Uh.... So...." Wind sat down. "I convinced Hyrule to take a break so we could hang out." He waited a few seconds. No response. He could still have fun with this anyways. "Awesome, so, wanna see something cool?" 

Sword didn't move.

"Alright, watch this!" He stuck his hands in Sword's face and began to do the classic 'pretend-to-take-off-your-thumb' trick. "Look at that."

Sword's eyes told Wind he was unimpressed.

"Seen that before? Didn't think you would have since you just got eyes... Er... I mean... Uh..." His cheeks went hot with embarrassment. "Nevermind. How about a joke?"

"Knock knock!"

....

"...You're supposed to say 'who's there', but I'll do it for you. Who's there?"

Sword closed his eyes again.

"....Well then maybe I just won't tell you the punchline."

Sword's eyes stayed closed.

"...Fine, have it your way Sword! But it was really funny!" Wind huffed, trying to think of something else.

At that moment, a shrill warning call echoed through camp.

"We're under ambush!"

"Oh, fuck!" Wind yelped.

Sword let out a gasp like he was offended.

"Come on Sword, we have to get out of here!" Wind said, shooting up and extending his hand.

Sword simply stared, still looking in shock from his swearing. (Why Sword would know what fuck meant was a question for later, once he got him to safety.)

Wind looked over his shoulder at the scene unfolding. A group of lizalfos had broken into camp, everyone was grabbing their weapons and charging in to fight them off. (The lizalfos in this Hyrule looked so different than the ones he was used to. Weird.) "Work with me here Sword, I left all my stuff by the campfire, we're vulnerable in here. We gotta get out." He tried to shove his hands under Sword, suprised at how light he felt. "Wow, you need to eat more, come on-" 

Sword rolled out of his hands. 

"No! Don't do that! We're in danger here, we've got to get out!" He panicked and looked around for something to use to defend himself. "Hey! Someone toss me a weapon!"

Warriors looked up from his struggle against the overgrown chameleon to check what he needed.

"A weapon!"

Warriors didn't hear him that time, and within a second a Lizalfos was staring Wind down, spear in hand, ready to strike.

Wind grabbed the spear, trying to struggle it out of the monster's hands. He felt Sword press up against his back, shaking, as though he was scared. (Being used to fight monsters must be pretty different that seeing one try to kill you.)

"Don't worry Sword! I've got this!" Wind reassured him, feeling confident in himself. It was a huge monster, but Wind was pretty tough himself. Thinking on his feet, he kneed the monster in the gut to catch it off guard, stumbling backwards onto Sword as it lost it's grip. "Sorry buddy!" He got back up to his feet, brushing himself off. 

"Now then... let's take this fucker on!" Wind shouted, charging at the enemy while it was still disoriented.

___

Sword trembled behind Wind. He forgot how scary enemies were face-to-face, and this one was  _ huge _ . 

Wind had taken it's weapon (how did it feel to be used by the enemy? Sword didn't want to find out.) and was fighting against it, and doing a pretty great job too.

Until he wasn't. 

The big monster grabbed the spear's front half, and snapped it like a twig. Sword flinched, horror filling his (not his, he stole it) body as the poor spear died infront of him, killed by it's own owner. 

The monster reared back, driving the spear down into Wind's face.

  
  



	11. Chapter 11

The head of the spear drove itself into Wind's face, dragging down his eye, and he let out a scream of pain, closing it shut, hoping that it wouldn't get to the eyeball.

His hands dropped what remained of the spear and they flew up to meet his face, stumbling back, and the lizalfos advanced on him.

He tried to grab for something,  _ ANYTHING _ he could use to defend himself, but all he grabbed at were blades of grass.

Preparing to meet his demise, Wind made a prayer that his family and friends would be safe.

And then Sword slammed himself head-first into the lizalfo's chest.

Wind blinked in shock.  _ Is he trying to protect me? He's going to get himself killed! _

The lizalfos shrieked in suprise as Sword collided with him, dropping the tiny spear. It shook itself off, ready to use it's claws or it's horn to attack, but Sword continued slamming and trying to push it back, away from Wind.

_ Doesn't that hurt? _ Wind thought, still in shock, not sure who he meant.  _ I've got to do something. _ He went to move, but the sudden taste of his own blood leaking into his mouth made him go pale.

Luckily for Wind, someone else had finally noticed their plight.

Not too late this time.

Warriors.

___

Once Warriors helped Time with one lizalfos, he remembered when Wind was calling for help. What had he needed? He felt his stomach drop as he noticed Wind's unattended bag on the ground. Wind was defenseless.

Praying to Hylia he wouldn't be too late  yet again , Warriors jumped over a log to get to Wind and  Sword Four. Wind was obscured from view, but what the actual hell was Four doing? Trying to bodyslam the lizalfos to death?  That's exactly what he's doing, because he's a swor-

Warriors raised his sword and drove it into the monster's tail. He didn't want to risk stabbing it through the middle until Four was out of the way.

The lizalfos jolted in pain, turning from Four to face Warriors with a snarl.

_ Let's make this quick, _ Warriors thought, pulling the the sword out and slicing through the creature's neck, ending it's life.

Four looked up at Warriors, still shaking with terror, but there was awe in his eyes. But before Warriors could help him up, Four scrambled his way over to Wind.

Wind, who had a look of horror on his face, blood pouring out of a wound that stretched from his brow to his chin, cutting right over his eye.

"Wind! Are you alright?" Warriors rushed over as well, helping support the injured boy. "Your eye, can you open it?"

Wind looked shell shocked. "Uh....h.... I don't know." 

"Hyrule! Come over fast! Wind's been cut!"

___

Hyrule wanted to pull his hair out, could he not catch a break? He just wanted some time to relax.

But when he made his way over to Wind, he quickly changed his mind.

"That's a nasty wound." The sight of blood made him panic, but he reassured himself, this was Wild's hyrule, the monsters wouldn't get him here.

"Use your magic-healing power and fix it!"

Hyrule hesitated. Was that right? He wasn't sure. "Of course, just... Let me...." He held out his hands to Wind's face, watching them glitter and swirl as the wound sealed. "...."

Wind hesitated, untensing. "...I think I can still open it."

"Go ahead then."

Wind forced it open, blinking roughly. "Well, I can still see, so no need to tell Time I stole his shtick!"

Hyrule sighed in relief. "Alright. I'm going to go. Bye."

Wind looked startled, but Hyrule had already left by the time he began to call after him. "Where are you going?! Hyrule?!"

Hryule walked away from camp. He needed a moment to himself. He needed time to calm down.

Taking a deep breath, he thought of the stress of having to keep Sword alive. He'd thought that was over after the first week and half, but ever since Sword found out what happened to Four, it was going on again. Without the stress of teaching him to breath, of course, that he could be grateful about. Legend, too, had been important in keeping his sanity. It was nice to have someone to talk to and work with, but he still felt cut off from the rest of the group while it happened.

What he needed was some time alone, and right now he didn't care about being needed back at camp. 

He wanted time to himself.

___

Sword stared at Wind. He had protected him from the monster.

And Sword was useless to help.

...Maybe doing nothing was what was making him bad.

He needed to learn. He couldn't be the sword anymore.

He had to relearn how to use one.

Sword felt knots in his stomach. He'd been a sword for so long now, it would be wrong to use one. 

But he wanted to protect everyone.

His eyes trailed to the dead spear on the ground. He didn't understand how the monster could kill them so easily, Four would never do that to him.  He did it to Four. Four would want him to protect the others, like he used to with him.

He moved roughly towards Wind, tilting his head in worry. Was he okay?

Wind gave a thumbs up.  _ That means he's okay, _ he remembered.

He tried to find another word.

"Sorry..."

___

Wind looked at Sword. Did he... apoligize to him? "Hey don't worry about it! Nothing to be sorry about, you were scared, but you did your best to protect me." He gave a wide smile. 

Sword looked uncomfortable, trying to make himself look smaller. He then straightened up and pointed at him. "Wind."

"That's my name-" Wait. "That's  ** _my_ ** name!" Wind stood up and danced with excitement. "You know my name!"

Sword stared for a few seconds and gave a smile back- like he was trying to copy Wind's. Looked a little forced. 

"Hey, I've seen you smile normally before! Don't steal mine!" Wind said, ruffling Sword's hair, who broke his fake smile, growing into a real one as he let out giggles of excitement. "One sec, I wanna grab my shield and see if I got a cool scar or not."

Warriors stopped him. "Wind. You almost lost your eye."

"And?"

"And you shouldn't take that for granted! You could have lost an eye!"

"Hey, that's rude to Time. He lost an eye and he's still cool." Wind huffed, pointing smugly to Time, who could easily hear the conversation from there. "He probably could have taught me how to deal with it if I had, anyways. Well, then I wouldn't be able to properly use an eyepatch, but I could wear one at all times without question!"

"What are you talking about, properly use an eyepatch!"

"Well-"

"Okay, nevermind. I don't really want to know. Is Four okay?"

" _ Sword _ is, if that's what you mean." Wind said, anger creeping into his voice. "He saved my life."

"I also saved your life."

"If you hadn't ignored me the first time, I wouldn't have needed to have been saved!"

By the way Warriors faced reacted, Wind instantly regretted his choice of words.

Whoops?

Warriors slammed his sword into the ground next to him. "Do NOT... don't..." He looked like he was struggling to not break something. 

Wind hesitated, nudging Sword next to him. "Let's leave Warriors alone, he needs some time to uh.... can... Can we leave, Warriors?"

Warriors gave a strained wave of dismissal to them.

"Alright..." He tugged on Sword's shirt. "Follow me, Sword. I can finally finish telling you that joke, if you're in the mood!"

___

Warriors stared down at the ground.

Wind's words echoed in his ears. 

_ 'If you hadn't ignored me the first time, I wouldn't have needed to have been saved!' _

He hadn't been late this time, he was just in time to save Wind and.... Four. He  _ saved _ them.

_ 'I wouldn't need to be saved!' _

He was right. He heard  <strike> Four </strike> Wind call for help.

And he ignored him.  <strike> And he stole his only defense. </strike>

But he wasn't late, he'd heard Wind's second cry.  <strike> And he ignored Four's. </strike>

He saved them.  <strike> And he stabbed him. </strike>

<strike> Four was still alive. </strike>

Wind and Sword were still alive. 

<strike> Four was dead. </strike>

He saved them.

Warriors stared into the distance. He couldn't deny it any longer. Four was dead, and he killed him. (The others insisted that it wasn't his fault, that he was trying to save him. But could have saved him far earlier. He could have done it so much earlier. He shouldn't have waited.)

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, his own thoughts drowning out the conversations in the background.

Upon opening them, he took in the sorry state of their camp, and got to work on rebuilding it. There was no time to stand around thinking of the past when he could be helping in the present. (But by the goddesses, he wished there was.)


	12. Chapter Twelve

___

Time watched in amusement as Wind tried to entertain Sword. It was nice to see Sword moving around again, despite the days of motionlessness, he still retained what little knowledge he had on locomotion. Wind looked like he was enjoying having someone 'younger' than him (He wasn't sure of Sword's actual age. Would he be able to know?) to teach things to, and Sword seemed to be enjoying it as well.

His heart still ached for Four, though. The shortest hero's presence was missed by everyone, though they had had time for a while now to accept they might not ever get him back. 

A little voice whispered in his ear, warning him to not get too attached. He ignored it, of course, he hadn't payed it any mind for years.... Less years than he would prefer, but even then. His last adventures were in his childhood, back when learning that he wasn't a Kokiri was a shocker. In hindsight it had been obvious, but he  _ was _ a child then. 

Loss was best coped with by acceptance and moving on, and Time knew by now that dwelling in the past did nothing but bring hurt.

His nightmares did not.

___

Time's dreams that night started off pleasant. He was riding Epona through the forest, when suddenly he blacked out.

He couldn't see, until Four came into view, humming and swaying. Time found that he couldn't open his mouth, questioning what was happening, when suddenly he felt something attack his face, and he woke up.

He was laying on a cot, still, unable to move himself.

Hyrule looked down at him. 

"Poor Four." 

Legend looked down at him.

"Poor Four."

Twilight looked down at him.

"Poor Four."

Time knew exactly what was happening, he was Four now. He had Four's body.

_ I'm not Four. _ He tried to open his mouth to speak, but something supressed the urge.

"I hope he gets better soon." Legend said, patting Time's face. He felt like he was going to choke.

"Time said he would be back in an hour." Twi said, his teeth beginning to turn to metal.  _ I'm right here! _ , Time wanted to cry, but he couldn't move.

"It would be so sad if Time was gone. At least we have Four." Hyrule said, running his hand down Time's chest.  _ Please, stop, _ Time begged internally,  _ Four is dead, I'm not Four, please, please stop, I'm not Four. _

"Don't worry, Four. Time will be back." Wild said. Since when was he there? Time struggled again to move.

He wished this wasn't real.

_ Was it a dream? _ It couldn't be, he woke up to this. He would have woken up by now.

Time tried to force himself out of his body, violently lurching, trying to escape from this hellish reality-

His eyes flew open, body still lurching forward as he lay down. It had been a dream. Of course it was, it was a ridiculous dream, why had he ever thought it was real?

The terrifying feeling of not being able to tell them still sat like a rock in his gut.

___

Hyrule had found a nice tree to stay in for the night he was away from camp. You couldn't find real good trees like this anymore where he was from, they'd all either rotted, were too small, or had no branches big enough to support him. There had been one by his cave, but the branch snapped under him when he tried to lug a body up there so he could finish taking it's stuff.

So being up in a tree was nice. Safe off the ground, cozy, sheltered by leaves... what more could you ask for in a bed? 

By morning, he felt a little guilty for having left without much of a warning. After mulling it over, he probably should have at least said where he was going. It normally wasn't something he had to worry about.

Someone threw a rock up at him, and his first reaction was to stay silent, in case it was a monster.

And then they threw another rock, so he looked down to see who it was. 

"Wild? What do you need?"

"Just checking in!" Wild said, laughing uneasily. "Wind said you left last night after the battle?"

"Yeah, needed some alone time." Hyrule said with a shrug.

"...Okay. So...." He smacked his lips loudly. "...Want to go see something cool?"

Hyrule could never turn down an offer for adventure. He hopped down from the branch, landing lightly in a crouch. "Let's go!"

___

Sword watched with curiosity as Wind showed him his sword. It was pretty, it had a gold symbol on it's hilt. It reminded him of the gemstone on his own. 

Wind was saying something about it, he wasn't sure exactly what, but he recognized a lot of the words about swords.

Wind reminded him of Green a lot, they were both very open. But he was also like Red, Red liked to cheer people up. He saw him get angry like Blue, though, and sometimes how much he talked looked like Vio, but he was too rambunctious to be Vio, and too messy to be Blue. Green liked to get messy. But he felt more like a weird mix. Maybe he was like Sword? But that wouldn't make sense, that would make Wind useless. Sword had been a sword for a reason.

He tilted his head and raised a hand to interrupt Wind. 

"What are you?"

___

Wind tilted his head. "What am I? You know who I am, I'm Wind."

"What are you?"

"I'm Wind! And I'm a hylian, duh."

"_ What _ are you?"

Wind snorted, rubbing his chin. "Don't know what you want from me, little buddy. I'm the hero of winds, and also like, trains and stuff."

Sword let out a frusterated whine.

"Wind is just a nickname, yaknow, my family back at home just calls me Link."

Sword stared for a few seconds, a look of bewilderment growing on his face.

"Something wrong? All I said was my name was Link." Wind snorted. "Is that shocking news? My name isn't really Wind?"

Wind stared as Sword grew more and more confused, standing up to ruffle his hair. "Alright Sword, since I just blew your mind, I'll give you some time to process that. Don't worry, I'll be back in a second, but I think Wild's almost done cooking, and that shit smells _ delicious. _"

___

Sword didn't know how to respond. Wind was a Link? He was fully formed? He was a full Link?

The Fours called him Link sometimes.

But that was being silly of them. He wasn't Link! At least, not anymore. The others were just as much of 'Link' as he was, they were probably even more than he was. And they didn't like being called 'Link', either, so that meant that Wind probably... Wasn't like them?

He hesitated. Had Wind just not split yet? When would he? Being alone like that sounded miserable. He couldn't remember how they had all split in the first place, but maybe it would come for Wind soon?

He hoped so.

He didn't want anyone else to have to be alone like he was.

___

Hyrule and Wild came back eventually, having gotten in over their heads exploring the fields.

Hyrule thanked the goddessess for Sword's sudden shift in mood, not sure what caused it, but glad it happened. (His main reason for being glad was a little more selfish than he would have liked, but that was okay.) The camp was having good work being rebuilt too, though not much was needed because it was a temporary setup nonetheless.

Sword seemed to get curious when he saw their weapons, tugging on whoever was closest's shirt, like he wanted to hold them. Hyrule wasn't sure he could trust him, watching how uncoordinated he was. It reminded him of times that Four tried and failed to do a handstand or a cartwheel in an attempt to amuse the others. It never worked out, he always tumbled before he could even start.

Wind seemed to have the same idea. "Hey Sword! Watch this! I'm gonna do a flip!" And so he did.

Sword just stared back at him.

"Tough crowd, I guess! Can't win em all!" Wind shrugged, faking disappointment. 

Hyrule began to crack a smile, but was interrupted by immense confusion as Sword stood on his wobbly feet, and took a running leap to do a somersault, landing in a perfect handstand, before tumbling back to the ground.

Hyrule blinked a few times, his mouth agape. "Huh?"

___

Legend, who had been internally thinking about how fucking stupid Sword looked when he was stumbling around like an idiot, felt pure spite as he saw him preform some sort of miracle jump, stick the landing, then fall over again like he didn't know how arms worked.

Legend couldn't do that.

...And neither could Four, when he thought about it. Or maybe Four had lied to him about being uncoordinated with acrobats to make him feel better. He didn't want that pity, even if the person who gave him it was dead.

___

Sword tumbled over into the ground. Had he done it right? His gaze wandered to Wind for approval. Wind looked shocked. Was that approval?

He felt his heart sink. No laughs.

He heard Twi, who he still wasn't sure he could trust, begin to talk. He picked out a few words.

"He cast no shadow, it's.....and....."

Shadow? Wasn't that the name of one of Four? He wasn't sure, he never got to meet him.

He heard the Fours talking to Shadow before, but he wasn't sure who or what he _ was _, exactly. Another part of Four? Either way, he never talked. Maybe he couldn't?

He knew that Shadow must like to tell jokes, because he would hear Red cracking up, Vio and Green chuckling, and even Blue let out a snort once or twice! He wished he could hear them. He liked to laugh.

Sword looked to Wind. Wind was making jokes for him. He didn't get all of them fully, but sometimes just the way Wind made faces or changed his pitch just had him smiling and laughing anyways.

It felt nice to be able to laugh again.

It felt worse knowing he would never hear the other's laughs again. It was lonely without them. He wanted to be a part of something again. He wanted to belong.

But they were all gone, all his pieces. He wanted them back, he was _ nothing _ without them.

He was everything the Four's weren't. He wasn't smart, he wasn't skilled, he wasn't able to do anything right... He was useless, good for nothing. 

Wind's voice came again, and a nudge to his shoulder.

"Sword? You okay?"

___

Wind stared down at Sword. He seemed lost in thought. "You okay, Sword? Hello?"

Sword blinked up at him.

"That was a pretty rad flip, I've never seen anything like it!" Wind said, feeling proud. "Even if it was a bit unexpected," _ Four would have tumbled right away _, "It was really good."

Sword still looked sad. 

"Hey, don't be upset! It's alright! Hey, if you do it again, I can try to get a pictograph of it! I can add it to my collection!" He smiled widely, already imagining them all together. They'd held a fun acrobatics contest at one point a few months ago, and he had turned the photos of mid-flip into trophies. (Even if most of them had gotten ruined by the water, he knew Warriors had secretly held onto his, and he planned to hold that against him.) Legend hadn't participated and the one of Four featured him flat on his face, but they were funny anyways.

Wind pulled out his pictobox, showing it to Sword. "Neat, right?"

Sword roughly took it out of Wind's hands, looking over it, and handed it promptly back.

"I think you'll like taking pictures." _ Four liked to take pictures, and he was really good at it too, so maybe his Sword would like it. _ "Just hold it like this, and snap a photo! Here, you can try it."

Sword took it back from his hands. Fumbling about the buttons, before getting to the right one.

"Perfect! Let me take a look." Wind took it back, and stared at the mess of a photo. His thumb had covered most of the lens and it was entirely blurry, but you could just make out the grass. "It's a great photo! You're a natural."

___

Sword continued to try and take pictures, being quite miserable at it, but Wind seemed encouraging, and it was fun.

This box seemed to be very... Valuable? Valuable, and fragile. Perhaps...?

Sword put the box down, and extended his hand. "Sword, please." He felt confident this time.

Wind hummed to himself for a moment. Was he thinking? Sword hoped he got the point across.

Wind moved his hands into his bag, and pulled out one of his two swords, placing it into Sword's hands.

Sword shifted in discomfort. This felt wrong.

The sword in his hand was pretty, it was green, with diamond shaped engravings. Was it empty still? Wind hadn't split yet, so it must be.

Was he supposed to split for the sword? He hoped not.

He felt uneasy carrying it. _ Familiar? _ His brain supplied. _ No. _

This was wrong, holding another sword.

He gently placed it down, not wanting to hurt it, and whimpered, hoping it would understand he was sorry.

___

Wind frowned. "Come on buddy, you were almost there, you can do it!" 

Sword squirmed in discomfort.

"Come on, it'll be okay, it's not alive, like you are. It's just a sword." He placed the lokomo back into Sword's arms.

Sword stared pleadingly at Wind, whining.

"Don't worry, you won't hurt it," Wind gave a reassuring smile. "Wild's weapons only break like that because he does a shit job taking care of them."

“Speaking of Wild, he probably has something you can use. He has a lot of spare weapons." Wind gave a nod to Sword, who let out another desperate cry for the sword to be taken away from him.

"Hey Wild! Have any weapons that Sword could test using?" He asked, grinning from ear to ear.

Wild pursed his lips. "Ehh.... Yeah, but..."

"Great, can I have one?"

"...Alright. He can have this one, it's close to breaking anyways."

"Thanks! I owe ya one!"

___

Sword began to cradle the sword close his chest. He didn't know how to feel. This was a body. He didn't want to hurt it, but he also didn't want to have to split to use it. He was useless enough as it is, fragmenting would make it worse. Maybe it would cure his loneliness, but he didn't really want to do that right now.

Just then, Wind showed up, and took the green sword out of his hands. He was holding another sword in the other, too. Was this a new friend? 

Sword curiously moved his head towards the sword. He hadn't seen them before. They didn't have a weilder. _ Me? _ He questioned himself, still scared. _ For me? _

They looked rough, lonely. Maybe they were like him. Alone. Without their better half. He gently began to look at the sword, checking for it's nicks and bumps. _ They're injured. _

He would help them, he would be their Four. He tried to feel brave. This would be his new friend. He would be there for them, and he would take good care of them.

He reached his hand out to touch the sword gingerly, and it shattered under his grasp.

He broke down crying. He killed his new friend! He made a vow to protect them, ready to work for their trust and affection, and the first thing he did was murder them.

___

Wind drew his face back in an awkward, clenched face. "Uh....Well...Maybe I should have asked Wild for a sturdier one-"

Sword began to pull Wind in for a hug, and he almost struggled out of it. "Hey- Ah....It's alright Sword, it was just a sword, we can always get you a better one." Considering for a moment that that would be cruel to say about a human, Wind thanked the fact that Sword was still rough with understanding words. 

He pat Sword on the back as he sobbed into his shoulder. "It's not your fault, shh."

Wind looked awkwardly to Wild, who, realizing his mistake, had begun to slink back towards his stuff.

"It's all good Sword, shh..." Wind said, comfortingly. 

___

Wind was good at comforting people. Red was pretty good at that too, Sword thought. He missed Red a lot, he was one of the ones who talked to him the most. It was Vio who first found out where he was, but Red took the charge to talk to him. 

_ Green too, _ Sword thought, sniffling. Green had a good, encouraging voice. Even Blue would talk to him, mostly just to scold or apologize, but it was still fun.

He looked down at his hands from around Wind. _ I kill people, _ he thought. He was supposed to kill monsters. _ I kill people. _

Wrapping Wind tighter into the hug, he nuzzled his face into his shoulder. _ I won't kill you, _ he thought, _ promise _.

___

Wind felt Sword's arms tighten around him, then loosen just a bit as his sobs lessened. "Feeling better, little buddy?" He asked, trying to smile over his guilt.

To his surprise, Sword seemed to understand, and nodded.

"I'm glad."


	13. Chapter 13

Sword had begun to pick up on more words, Sky noticed. 

It had been around two weeks since the lizalfos attack, and Sword had been listening more and more intently to their conversations ever since.

To be honest, all the quick progress was a little startling, and no one was sure if he was actually understanding them, or if he was just pretending.

One of the stranger times Sky noticed this was when Wild needed to know how many slices to cut some of his apples into to let everyone have at least 3.

Everyone was taking a while to think over the answer, but Sword had said it in under ten seconds.

"10.6." 

Everyone stared, caught off guard. Four had never been the best at math, and so seeing his sword spew out an answer so quickly was.... Odd.

___

It was a slow day at camp. Wind, Sky, and surprisingly, Legend, had been taking turns to try and get Sword more comfortable with holding and using weapons, but had gotten tired.

Sword had been cycling through listening intently and not understanding words at all.

Tonight, however, this was going to change.

The conversation at dinner that night was a light hearted discussion about what clothes everyone likes to normally wear, a funny and nice way to boost everyone's mood. Sword seemed to be extra alert during the discussion, his face scrunched up in thought. Wild in particular was enjoying showing off his large wardrobe, offering to let the others try some of the pieces on. Hyrule hesitantly opened his mouth to say he never really got the luxury of many different outfits, but instead, he was cut off by an unexpected sound.

Sword's voice.

"Green is a nice color, I want to wear yellow. Can I have something yellow to wear?"

It was a little off, probably just from not having been used, but Sword had finally spoken in more than a fragment. Was it a fluke? Did he just happen to be saying something random that happened to allign with the conversation?

Hyrule blinked. "W...we can probably find something yellow for you to wear."

Sword's eyes lit up in excitement. "Thank you!" He squealed, and seemed pleased with himself.

Everyone had frozen. That was unexpected to say the least, a miracle to say the most. Should they test it again, just to make sure that was real?

"...So, Sword," Legend began, "Why yellow, if you like green so much?"

Silence. Sword looked confused, as though he didn't understand. Of course, of course, they shouldn't have gotten ahead of themselves. Just earlier that day Sword didn't seem to understand anything they were saying, he couldn't have learned to talk again so suddenly.

But as they began to resume the previous conversation, Sword spoke again.

"I'm not Green, so I can't wear green, because Green wears Green."

___

Everyone stared at him.

"Who's Green?" Wind asked the first question.

Sword scrunched up his face. That was a joke, right? They knew who Four was, so why wouldn't they know who Green was? Green was part of Four. "You know him!"

Wind took at glance back at Warriors. "Why are you talking?"

Sword frowned. "I remembered how?" He wasn't sure what they meant.

  
They were all silent, still staring. Was he doing something wrong? "...What do you mean, remembered how?" Came Warriors' voice, a little shaky. Sword shifted with discomfort. "Uhm..." He began to anxiously play with his hands, not sure if he was doing this right. "I.... forgot how...to.... word.... When..." "Speak?" Supplied Sky. "Um...n-no... when you..." He touched his ears. "Listen?" His eyes lit with delight. "To listen!"

___

Warriors bit back the tightness in his throat. "But you could hear us?"

Sword furrowed his brow, sticking out his tongue in concentration, before relaxing and perking up. "Yes!"

Warriors wasn't sure what to feel. Ever since... ever since he killed Four, ever since Sword replaced him, he know how to feel or what to think. Sword liked him a lot, and even though he understood that Four was _dead_, he didn't know to what extent that Sword _knew_ how Four died. He stayed away from Sword, but Sword liked to be near him anyways, and he'd warmed up a little. Wind would bring him by and try to get Sword to participate in a little play or a prank for Warriors and the others, and Sword would keep smiling at him.

Meaning. Sword probably didn't hear him and the others discussing how he stabbed Four.

How would Sword feel if he was told that now?


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> apoligies for taking so long, i was going to rewrite this part because canon happening proved parts of this untrue but, yaknow, i like how it is so im going to leave it as is. sorry for any confusion!

Suddenly, Warriors was pulled back into the conversation.

Hyrule was tapping his fingers nervously on the bowl he was holding. "...Sword. Who are you?" 

"Sword?" 

"Well, yes, that... That is correct! But... what are you?"

"A sword."

"N...no.... We know that. Why do you have a soul?"

Sword tilted his head as if he didn't understand the question. "I have... soul?"

"...Yes. Do you know why?" 

"Uhm....I don't think I have that." Sword shook his head wildly. "I didn't get one."   
  
Warriors felt a wave of nausea wash over him, a disoriented feeling.

"We're switching worlds! Everyone, gather your things, don't leave anything behind or you'll lose it for good!"

Warriors nodded through the brain haze, getting up quickly to put his things together.

A thought crossed his mind, still lingering from the conversation moments ago. If Sword had no soul, would he be able to travel Hyrules with them?

There wasn't much time to find out, everyone clamored for their things, preparing, and he overheard Hyrule and Wild excitedly discussing where they thought they would go next.

He looked to see if anyone was helping get together Four's old things, and noticed that Sword had clumsily ran and grabbed Four's shield, clutching it tightly to him, but nothing else.

And then, they switched worlds.   
  
___

Dot, or well, Zelda, because that was her actual name, but no one called her that anyways, so maybe she should ask her dad to officially change her name to Dot, but then he'd probably scold her because 'blah blah' it's a sacred name, but why not, it would help Four feel less weird about it, but anyways, she had been bored for a while. Her friends, Four, had been given a quest, then sent to another dimension, or something. She didn't know the exacts, she wasn't really paying attention. 

She wished she had though, because she really missed them. They, of course, would never be alone, because they had each other, but she was just one person. 

They were probably having fun, and that was good! But... She also just... really... really... REALLY hoped they were okay. She didn't want to lose her best friend(s) again. They'd made so many memories together! Like when -

Oh right.

But that wouldn't happen, they would be fine.

Feeling restless, she jumped up to go to the market, pushing back her worries. 

Maybe she'd even get to see them soon.

The market was bustling, like, normal, there was some shiny stuff, that weird dude who she could never remember the name of was selling fruit again, maybe she could pick up some fruit- Bananas, yes! Bananas were good. She used to love eating Banana bread-

"Excuse me, you're going to tip my stand over-"

"Oh!" Dot jolted up from where she was, she didn't even realize she was leaning on anything. "Er.... Can I have these bananas?"

"As long as you pay for them," The seller sounded passive aggresive, and Dot shrunk back.

"...I was going to do that. Um... here's some. Money." She thrust the coins from her pocket in their hands. 

"Thank you, your highness."

"Yep! Uh- I'm going to take these-"

Her thoughts were interrupted by a discussion going on a little ways away.

"Did you hear about the travelers that arrived?"

"Yes, yes, and how one of them looks like the paintings of-"

Dot spun around and hopped, bananas in arms, towards the two. "Can you tell me where they are?!"

___

Warriors reoriented himself to his surroundings.  _ This isn't familar. Not my Hyrule. _

"Is everyone safe? Anyone drop anything?" Legend's gruff but concerned voice rang clearly, and Warriors noticed that he was helping Sword up from the ground.

"I'm fine."

"Same here."

"Anyone  _ not _ fine? No? Alright. Well, does anyone recognize this area?"

There was only hums of thought in response, as everyone took in the area around them. It was peaceful, serene.

Warriors noticed how round Sword's eyes had grown, he looked in awe, but didn't say much.

"...Well, maybe if we travel a little farther, we may run into a landmark we recognize. Let's look for a town."

___

Walking was hard, Sword decided. His legs were tired, he wanted to be held! He kept his shield close to his chest. He didn't want to lose it, it was his.

He didn't know what had happened, but all of the sudden they were here. These places, he knew them. He'd been here! Or, no... Wait... He wasn't sure. But as he looked around, it was so exciting and different, yet familar at the same time, he felt like he belonged here! 

He stayed quiet, prefering to listen to what the others were saying. He had to strain to understand each word, so that it didn't fade into noise, but it was kind of fun!

They passed by a tree stump, and he wanted to stand on it. He gently touched his head, but nothing was on it.

"Hey! Sword, come on, we need to keep moving," Wind smiled at him. 

Sword looked down sadly. "Okay..."

___

Wow, those people must have lied when they said it wasn't a long walk to where they were spotted. Rude. 

Dot kicked at rocks as she made her way down the path, seeing if any would have rupees underneath. She made sure there were no minish in the way, of course, but she wanted to see how far she could kick one rock until she found them.

Did they even use this path? Wait, where was she supposed to turn again? She almost dropped the bananas as she whipped violently around, realizing she was PROBABLYYY supposed to go left like, twenty minutes ago.

_ Okay... where am I. _

She bit her lips.

_ I have no idea where I am. _

This wasn't good-

Oh! Look! There were a group of travelers in the distance to the right.  _ They do know there's a road they could be following, right? _

Four would probably have told them, or maybe they were pranking their party members to see how long before they noticed. 

A grin stretched across her face.

Please let it be them!

___

Sword heard something coming. 

"Hey! Slow down!" Shouted Wind, as someone was barrelling towards them with a bunch of bananas in their arms.

"Sorry! I'm just- oh whoops, can't drop those, those are for bread, Hi! I'm Dot! Is Four with you? I heard there was-"

She started talking really fast and Sword couldn't really tell what she was saying. But...It! It was Zelda! 

She was nice, she always held him close and talked to him. And... She gave him this! He looked down excitedly at the shield in his arms, and up at her. 

But then he rememebered, with a punch to the gut as he heard the others start talking to her as well, motioning to him, and the look of despair in her eyes was clear. She wouldn't want him back, she would want Four.

And he wasn't Four.

___

Dot felt her world spinning.

_ We're sorry... Four... Four didn't make it. _

_ He was killed.... _

_ He was stabbed with his own sword, and now- _

She let out a shaky exhale, feeling tears begin to puddle out of her eyes, streaming down her face in heavy rivers.

She lost them.

She lost them.

She lost all of them.

First she lost Link, but that... She had... she had still had him, sort of. His pieces. And they were friends. And she lost them.  _ She lost all of them. _

She wasn't even aware that she had curled up on the ground until she felt a hand tug her sleeve, and she looked up.

Two heartbroken, silver eyes stared deeply at her, full of emotion. 

"We... Well... When Four died... he was replaced by..."

Dot's eyes widen in shock, the expression was too familiar.

"L-link?"

He scrunched up his face in discomfort. "...S...sword..."

Suddenly, a shield was thrust into her arms.

_ Link's _ shield. The one she gave Four. 

"...You... gave... me this." His voice was mild and frightened, avoiding eye contact.

Tears still ran down her cheeks, but for a moment, she tried to have the strength to speak to him.

But first, she pulled him into a hug, and he went limp in her arms.

"How much do you remember?"

He was silent, and made a solemn whimper. He knew exactly what she meant. 

  
"... _ Everything _ ..."


End file.
